NEW YORK — About 75 men, all old enough to remember John F. Kennedy’s assassination or even Sputnik, gathered on Saturday in the ballroom of a midtown Manhattan hotel and lined up in two parallel rows to form a path between them. They stared expectantly at the ballroom’s double doors as if they awaited a bride’s entry.
All they really wanted to see was the best man.
Willie Mays slowly entered the room, walking between the columns of admirers. They and others greeted Mays with noisy yet respectful applause, sounding like both houses of Congress at a presidential State of the Union address.
“This is the greatest ballplayer of all time,” a man seated at a table told a grade-school-aged boy.
Mays’ appearance highlighted one of several events that the Giants scheduled last week to share the glory of the 2014 World Series triumph with fans in the franchise’s original home. Mays, who began advancing toward legendary status as a rookie center fielder with the New York Giants in 1951, joined current San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik at this event for a question-and-answer session. Members of the New York Giants Preservation Society and the New York Giants’ Baseball Nostalgia Society formed the lucky crowd, which also received an opportunity to pose with the World Series trophy.
Most of the audience remembered seeing Mays perform at New York’s Polo Grounds between 1951-57, when he blossomed into baseball’s most exciting player — a distinction he maintained after the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958.
“A few guys said their lives are complete now that they shook hands with the great Willie Mays,” said Michael Weinberg, who grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of New York. “How many players can say they make people feel that way 42 years after they stopped playing?” Continue reading →

Just as after their 2010 and 2012 World Series victories, the San Francisco Giants honored their New York supporters by bringing the 2014 championship trophy to New York and among the events was a great breakfast at the Palace Hotel.

I was fortunate to attend, circumventing the early day foul weather and transportation issues and thank The New York Giants Preservation Society and its dedicated, accomplished president Gary Mintz profusely for this event and all that he and the organization does to enrich and remember the great New York Giants baseball history.

Kudos as well to the San Francisco Giants organization which recognizes the New York days and people, proudly adding the 5 New York Giant’s titles to the incredible 3 “S.F.” titles in the past 5 seasons, giving the Giants 8.
That ties them with the somewhat historically similar, Boston Red Sox for fourth place, trailing only the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia/Oakland Athletics in World Series triumphs.

Special praise to Staci Slaughter, Shana Daum and Albert Jaimes within the San Francisco organization. The man at the top, CEO Larry Baer, is beyond gracious and was in attendance.

Members of the society had a special viewing breakfast with Giants officials this morning, January 24, as the World Series Trophy came to NYC. Special thanks to Staci Slaughter, Shana Daum, and Albert Jaimes, among many, who made this an unforgettable day for all those in attendance. Willie Mays, Joe Panik, and Larry Baer, held a Q/A session to a captive audience. The NYGPS donated $ to the Jr. Giants Fund and the Say Hey Foundation. The SF Giants Organization continue their amazing tradition of remembering and embracing their past. For this we are most THANKFUL!!

THE LAST REMNANT OF THE POLO GROUNDS DESERVES A REDEDICATION CEREMONY WORTHY OF THE BALLPARK’S HISTORY

BY:MICHAEL ARONSON
The San Francisco Giants, including legend Willie Mays, are in town now to celebrate their latest championship with fans of old.
Say hey — then insist that the city give the Giants’ old home, the Polo Grounds, the hallowed place in history that it has earned.
Before they headed West, the Giants won five World Series there. The Yankees, football Giants, Mets and Titans/Jets also once called it home.
Yet for years, the stadium’s only remnant, a 80-step stairway, sat rusty and broken. In 2008, this page adopted the stairs and enlisted the five ex-Polo Grounds teams to help fund repairs. They came through with half a million dollars. Major League Baseball chipped in another $50,000. The National Football League didn’t give a penny.
The fixes have been made and all that’s needed is a nice ceremony to rededicate the stairs, honor the five teams and fête the incomparable Mays. Have it in June, when the Mets host the Giants.

The Giants and Orioles, the teams with whom Miller distinguished himself the most during his 16-year Major League career, announced his death Monday.
Baseball’s spotlight glared upon Miller during the 1961 All-Star Game, which cemented Candlestick Park’s reputation as an oversized air conditioner. This, according to legend, was the Midsummer Classic in which Miller was blown off the mound. That wasn’t exactly what happened.
A game recap in the 1963 book “The Giants of San Francisco” cited unusually withering temperatures that forced 95 fans to receive treatment for heat prostration during the early innings. But Candlestick’s infamous breezes took over by mid-afternoon. Recalled Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills, who played the entire game for the National League, “I saw the same hot-dog wrapper hover over the infield for three or four innings with the wind taking it in different directions, about 100 feet off the ground.”
Miller, the Giants right-hander making his first and only All-Star appearance, relieved Sandy Koufax in the ninth inning with one out, Roger Maris on first base, Al Kaline on second and the NL clinging to a 3-2 lead.
In the 1979 book “SF Giants: An Oral History”, Miller said the flags in center field were “almost torn off the flagpole by the time I got in. It was actually the windiest day I had ever seen there, and I was certainly used to it by then. So I came in and anchored myself into the wind, as usual.”
As the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Miller went into the stretch position to pitch to Rocky Colavito, a sudden gust upset his balance. Miller threw the pitch anyway, but was called for a balk after doing so, due to his erratic movement. Kaline scored the tying run as third baseman Ken Boyer misplayed Colavito’s subsequent grounder.
Ultimately, Miller persevered and received the decision in the NL’s 5-4, 10-inning victory.
Miller, who ranked among the top 20 finishers in Most Valuable Player Award voting four times, broke into the Majors with the Cardinals in 1952. He performed for four other teams, including the Giants (1957-62) and Orioles (1963-67), and compiled a 105-103 record with a 3.24 ERA and 154 saves in 704 career appearances. He was among 43 former Giants to merit a plaque on AT&T Park’s Wall of Fame, a distinction reserved for the franchise’s finest San Francisco-era (since 1958) performers. Miller also was elected to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1989.
After alternating between starting and relieving, Miller moved almost exclusively to the latter role in 1959, one year after he recorded an NL-best 2.47 ERA. He topped the NL with 17 saves in 1961 and the AL with 27 in 1963. He won 14 games in relief in 1961 and again in 1965. Though Miller relied primarily on a changeup, he overwhelmed enough hitters to average 8.35 strikeouts per nine innings from 1963-65.
“For what he had, he was amazing,” said left-hander Johnny Antonelli, a Giants teammate of Miller’s from 1957-60. “He made some of those hitters look pretty bad. He had a great idea of how to pitch, changing speeds. It was really funny to watch sometimes. He would throw a pitch that floated up there, someway, somehow, and it looked like it was going to be a fastball. But it came in there slow and they would just swing through it. He would make certain hitters look sick. That was Stu Miller.”
A native of Northampton, Mass., Miller is survived by his wife, Jayne; six children, Scott, Lori, Kim, Marc, Gary and Matthew; five grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Haft-Baked Ideas, and follow him on Twitter at @sfgiantsbeat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR UPCOMING SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY TOUR PRESENTED BY BANK OF AMERICA TOUR BEGINS ON JANUARY 7TH AND CONCLUDES ON OPENING DAY IN SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 13TH

The San Francisco Giants announced today that they will take all three of their World Championship Trophies (2010, 2012 and 2014) on public tour beginning in early January of 2015.
This will be the third public trophy tour held in the past five years. The focus of the San Francisco Giants World Championship Trophy Tour presented by Bank of America is to share the trophies with Giants fans in Junior Giants communities throughout northern and central California, Oregon and Nevada.
Junior Giants is the flagship program of the Giants Community Fund, which serves more than 22,000 boys and girls in 87 underserved communities throughout northern and central California and southern Oregon. It is a free and non-competitive baseball program that has served as a model for MLB youth initiatives. Using baseball as the hook, Junior Giants provides opportunities for children to learn the meaning of leadership, teamwork, confidence and integrity, as well as the importance of education, health and bullying prevention.
“We saw in 2012 how powerful it was for us to create a trophy tour which not only allowed us to connect with our fans, but also with the more than 22,000 kids who participate in our Junior Giants baseball program. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to do so again,” said Larry Baer, Giants president and chief executive officer.
In partnership with their Junior Giants Leagues, the Giants will offer public viewing opportunities in the following cities throughout the months of January, February and March. Fans will have the chance to have their photo taken with the trophies and to support the Junior Giants in their community. Continue reading →

BY:Alden Gonzalez
Alvin Dark, a Rookie of the Year and three-time All-Star shortstop who managed the Giants and A’s to the World Series, died Thursday. He was 92. There are now only 25 remaining Giants who played in NY.

Dark played 14 seasons in the Majors, suiting up for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, New York Giants, Cardinals, Cubs and Phillies, establishing himself as one of the best all-around shortstops in his era. He batted .289/.333/.411 in a career that spanned from 1946-60, compiling 126 homers, 2,089 hits and 59 stolen bases.
He later was manager of the Giants, leading them to the 1962 World Series, which they lost to the Yankees in seven games, and also the A’s, taking them to the World Series championship in 1974, the last of their three consecutive titles.
“We are saddened to learn of Alvin’s passing,” the A’s said in a statement. “He was a true baseball man who will always hold a prominent place in our history, both in Kansas City and Oakland. A’s fans will never forget the 1974 team he managed to a third consecutive World Series title. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.”
A product of Louisiana, Dark was Major League Rookie of the Year in 1948, was captain of the Giants throughout the 1950s and played in three World Series, winning one with the Giants while batting .412 in the 1954 Fall Classic.
Dark did so much more than play baseball, though. Continue reading →

The San Francisco Giants are once again in the World Series. I’ve been watching the games on TV, but I’m not rooting for them. As a kid, I was shattered when my team, the New York Giants, moved to the Bay Area in 1958. I felt betrayed. It must have been similar to what children feel when their parents divorce. This wasn’t the way that adults were supposed to act.

In their early years on the West Coast, the Giants had some outstanding players — Willie Mays (who had played for the team in New York) as well as Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey. But the Giants left my heart in New York, not San Francisco. I would never again cheer for the Giants.

My memories about the New York Giants were rekindled this week, not only by the World Series, but also by a photograph that my teenage daughter discovered while she was rummaging through miscellaneous files and boxes in our house. It was an 8 ½ by 11 glossy photo of a one-time major league pitcher in a New York Giants uniform, posing as though he had just completed his follow through.

In the upper right hand corner is a fading but still legible autograph written with a dark black pen:

Charlie Mead an outfielder for the NY Giants has passed. (Thanks to NYGPS Member Perry Barber for the info!) Mead played for the Giants from 1943-1945. There are now only 26 remaining Giants who played in NY.

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Charlie Mead of Vermillion, Alta., was one players responsible for keeping baseball alive during the second great war. Signed by the Detroit Tigers he began his pro career with the in 1940 with class-C Hot Springs Bathers and class-C Henderson Oilers. He spent 1941 with class-C Texarkana Twins and the next year with class-B Winston-Salem Twins. He signed with the New York Giants in 1943 and spent 97 games at double-A Jersey City Giants before getting the call.
Suiting up for the New York Giants, Mead appeared in 87 games between the years of 1943 and 1945, belting a total of three home runs and hitting .245 while patrolling the outfield at the famed Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. He made his debut Aug. 28, 1943 making 34 starts at age 22, going hitless as Van Mungo pitched the Giants to a 12-0 win over the Boston Braves and Red Barrett. Mead had his first hit in the majors of Whitlow Wyatt in a 4-1 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. His first homer came Sept. 28 when he took Ray Starr deep in a 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. He made the second most starts behind Hall of Famer Mel Ott, the Giants playing manager in right field and three more in centre. On the season he hit .274 with one homer and 13 RBIs in 37 games.
The next year in 1944, he hit .179 with one homer and eight RBIs in 39 games. Mead went deep against Freddy Schmidt in a 10-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in a 10-6 loss and knocked in a pair in a 5-4 win over the Boston Braves. He made 11 starts in left, four in right and three in centre. His third career homer game in 1945 when he homered against Lefty Wallace in a 7-3 loss to the Boston Braves. He batted .270 with one homer and six RBIs in 11 games, as he started 10 times in right. When the troops returned home following an ally victory in 1945, many of the reserve ballplayers were given their release, opting to return to the minors or finding other post-baseball careers outside of the game. Mead, who was a mere 24 years old by the end of the 1945 season, decided to continue his career as a professional, signing on with the unaffiliated Vancouver Capilanos of the Class B Western International League, where he would become a star over the course of the next six seasons, helping the Caps take home league titles in 1947 and 1949 respectively. Continue reading →